GREENVILLE — After winning by the mercy rule on Monday the last thing on Scott Jones’ mind was watching his Greene Central baseball team implode the following day.

It happened anyways.

Jeremy Johnson went the distance and held the Rams to one hit as this one was all but decided in the first inning in Rocky Mount’s 8-0 win on Tuesday at Guy Smith Stadium on the final day of the Pitt County Classic.

Greene Central (6-6) dropped two of three in the event, and due to three hit batters and two errors in the first inning alone its enjoyment of Monday’s 10-0 six-inning win over Washington was pretty much over before the Rams had a chance to bat.

“I don’t know what happened. It beats the heck out of me,” a perplexed Jones said. “That seems to be our Achilles’ heel all year. When we come out and make the plays we can compete with anybody, but when we’re not able to make the simple plays we get in a world of hurt.”

Andy Morris lifted James Head’s second pitch of the game up along the line in right, and a charging Ben Brann slid to make the catch but the ball popped out of his glove, allowing Morris to reach.

Brann, who felt he should have made the grab, hopped up and slapped his glove in disgust. But things only got worse.

Head hit the next batter, then Johnson reached on a bunt single back to the pitcher to load the bases for Micah Varnell. Head hit Varnell to score the game’s first run, then a fielding error allowed Trevor Hayward to drive in Ramsey.

Jarell Hunter struck out looking for the inning’s first out, but Head couldn’t get Ben Winstead, who singled home Johnson on an infield roller.

With the bases still loaded, Head hit Josh Carter, which plated Varnell. Head struck out Will Edwards, the inning’s ninth batter, but gave up a liner up the middle to Morris that scored Hayward.

The only thing that kept the visitor’s initial half from producing more runs than it did was left fielder Josh Head’s relay throw home that cut down Winstead at the plate.

The troubles didn’t end there for Greene Central’s defense and its starter. Ramsey led off the second by reaching on an error, Johnson tripled home a run then Varnell reached on yet another error before Hayward was hit on a curveball that got up and in.

Jones had seen enough, and lifted James Head after he had hit four and gave up four hits. Of the seven runs charged to him, only two were earned.

Page 2 of 2 - “We want to compete every single game, and that’s got to be something that comes from within,” Jones said. “Right now, I just don’t think we’re competing at the level that we need to be competing at.”

The ball was handed to Kevin Ormond, who finished on the bump and did his part to keep the Rams in it. He gave up only one run on three hits, walked none and hit none, but his offense couldn’t get going.

That’s because Johnson was on his game.

The Rocky Mount left-hander struck out 12, hit one and walked two, and yielded his only hit to Brann, who singled in the third.

Johnson needed only 99 pitches to get through, 68 of which went for strikes

“(Ormond) has probably had the least amount of mound job of anybody on the team this weekend and he did a nice job,” Jones said. “He pitched great, gave us a chance to get back in it. If we could (have) just swing the bats a little bit. We just didn’t do it.

“You’ve got to give (Johnson) a lot of credit. He did an outstanding job.”

Now that Greene Central’s journey through the 30-team Pitt County Classic is over, Jones saw some good things out of his team.

He also saw some bad things — mainly the first inning on Tuesday — that need to be corrected heading into the heart of Eastern Plains 2A Conference play.

“The biggest thing is, we’ve got to get better defensively,” said Jones, whose team had six errors on Tuesday. “Our kids have got to approach every game more competitively, whether it’s a conference game or non-conference game.”

Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.